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I don't want to fill the magazine with attacks on HMRC, I really don't. They are just as much part of the tax profession as agents and advisers, and Taxation would like to be reporting on how our profession is successfully tackling problems in the tax system together. But at the moment there doesn't seem to be much that is positive to report. We are having some discussions with HMRC following our 'Zugzwang' series of articles, and we hope those are going to produce something useful. But up in the realms of policy-making, the attitude seems to be that agents and advisers are the enemy, to be sidelined wherever possible.
Had there been any real consultation on the proposed change to the filing date for tax returns, we would not all be waiting, as this issue goes to press, to see whether Lord Carter has anything to say at the ICAEW Tax Faculty's Wyman Symposium, having looked again at the issues. News about what, if anything, he does say will, by the time you read this, have appeared on the 'No to November' blog at www.taxationmagazine.blogspot.com so go there to read the latest update. Had the very good consultation on the IT and CGT treatment of trusts been matched by a similar discussion in good faith on the proposed IHT consequences, we would have far better legislation than is currently proposed. Had the Home Computer Initiative … but you get my drift.
Gathering clouds
Finance Bills have an in-built cycle, and for good or ill we are coming to the end of this one. Thanks to the support you gave to the 'No to November' campaign and the very hard work of the representatives from the CCAB bodies who have been negotiating on your behalf, there is at least some hope of a better outcome from Carter, though at the time of writing the outcome is far from certain. But there is another storm cloud on its way; the HMRC pilot of their new 'interventions'.
Taxation reported briefly on these on 6 July at page 370, but the more I hear about them, the worse they sound. These are enabling letters writ large, an insinuation to taxpayers that HMRC know something, when all that has really happened is that a computer has carried out a statistical analysis and come up with an exception report. However, from the hints we have picked up, the reality is going to be even worse. It was apparently only some last minute representations from the profession which ensured that intervention letters will at least be copied to agents — the original intention was simply to send them to clients. It is still not clear who will be contacted when a represented client receives a telephone intervention
